“Don’t build alone”: Anja Kunack on UNITE
For many postdocs, the transition from research to the next career step is not straightforward. Years of expertise, promising results, and a strong network are in place, but how can all that be turned into something tangible beyond academia? A startup can be one answer, yet the road from scientific insight to a scalable company often feels fragmented: different programs, different institutions, and no clear map.
That is where UNITE comes in. “Berlin and Brandenburg already have everything you need for breakthrough companies,” says Anja Kunack, press spokesperson for UNITE. “But founders shouldn’t have to stitch the pieces together alone.” UNITE is the region’s emerging startup factory for science-based ventures, one of the federal lighthouse projects dedicated to strengthening deep-tech spin-offs from universities and research institutes.
Kunack describes UNITE as a transfer platform that connects world-class research with the structures, mentoring, and financing needed to grow a company. “Our basis is enormous – over 250,000 students and 30,000 researchers in the region – and a dense community of people already active in the startup ecosystem. UNITE’s role is to bundle, extend, and accelerate.”
The focus is clear: AI, health, and green technologies. Those are the fields where Berlin and Brandenburg can set international benchmarks. For postdocs, this translates into concrete opportunities: matching formats that pair researchers with complementary skills, for example a team with a strong problem but lacking programmers connected with engineers in search of a use case; and accelerator programs for deep-tech startups with international potential, designed to prevent promising projects from stalling after the incubator stage. “Especially in deep tech, the journey often breaks after the first mile,” Kunack notes. “Teams need more time, more capital, and dedicated mentoring to cross the valley to market. UNITE is designed to bridge that gap.”
At its core, UNITE is about broadening career horizons for researchers. “We want postdocs to see entrepreneurship as a serious, attractive option alongside academia or industry,” Kunack says. “Postdocs often have the combination we need: depth in a domain plus the drive to build,” she says. “Our job is to lower friction: clearer programs, better matches, faster routes to capital, and mentors who’ve shipped deep tech before.”
The platform itself is inter-institutional by design. Rather than isolated offers, UNITE works hand in hand with BUA partners, city institutions, transfer offices, Science & Startups, Charité, investors, and corporates, while adding shared infrastructure and coherent pathways. “We want a founder to see one map, not ten separate brochures,” Kunack explains.
Kunack’s advice mirrors the spirit of the platform: “Don’t build alone. Surface early, match widely, and use the region’s strength. The next generation of companies will be born at the intersections of disciplines, institutions, and people who decide to work as one.”